Malick 1 – 2 St. Augustine: ‘Green Machine’ power through to semis
St. Augustine achieved a comfortable victory over a lackluster Malick on Thursday at the Hasley Crawford Stadium to advance to the National Intercol Semi-Finals, when they emerged 2-1 victors. Two first half goals by ‘Gustine’ was enough to see off a Malick team, deprived of their inspirational captain Robert Primus through suspension.
St. Augustine opened the scoring after just 10 minutes through Kareem Paul who met a perfect square ball from Mark Alibey after some skillful dribbling down the right. Paul blasted the ball into the roof of the net giving Joseph Baird absolutely no chance in the Malick goal and just like that the score was 1-0.
The St. Augustine advantage was doubled just 10 minutes later, and this time it was Alibey who would get on the scoreboard when Baird dropped, what should have been a routine catch, at the feet of Alibey. The St. Augustine striker would make Baird regret that error as he poked the ball into the back of the net. Alibey would be substituted minutes later after coming off worse from two heavy challenges and his replacement Daniel Joseph would make life extremely difficult for the Malick defenders although he failed to add to his team’s tally.
Malick began to press forward a bit more at this point, but it was obvious that they were missing Primus whose absence was sorely felt. Kaydian Garbriel was Malick’s main source of creativity from midfield on the day and the tricky winger had an excellent game. He was involved in Malick’s goal when he made a surging run down the left flank and played a low cross into the danger zone. St. Augustine failed to clear the ball and Nicholas Solomon was first to react and buried the ball into the back of the net past St. Augustine’s goalkeeper and captain, Joel Johnson in the 39th minute.
The teams headed into the interval with the score 2-1 in favor of St. Augustine. After the break Malick brought on Hollan Joseph and Akeem Bailey, who started on the bench, in their hunt for an equalizer, but neither player was able to make an impression in the game. St. Augustine still looked the more dangerous team and had a few chances to add to their lead but failed to capitalize on their opportunities. They advance to the National Intercol semi-final and await the winner of Naparima vs Carapichaima being played at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium on Friday.
Justin Henry
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